Physical Bases of Cognitive Flexibility
Abstract
Cognitive flexibility-the ability to rapidly adapt our thoughts and behavior-is the foundation of intelligence in challenging environments. However, flexibility is also easily compromised in high-stress environments, often by processes that limit metabolic energy. Understanding the metabolic costs of cognitive flexibility could be the key to making cognitive flexibility more robust in challenging environments. Building on a powerful new computational method that can identify periods of cognitive flexibility, the research objective of this proposal is to test the hypothesis that cognitive flexibility depends on neural computations that are unusually energetically costly. Our technical approach includes 3 mutually-reinforcing aims in humans and non-human primates, in whom we can directly measure the neural computations involved in cognitive flexibility. Aim 1 simultaneously characterizes the energetic costs and computational demands of cognitive flexibility in the non-human primate. It combines a mathematically sophisticated cognitive flexibility assay with real-time measures of body metabolism and large-scale neural recordings. Parallel Aim 2 measures the metabolic costs of cognitive flexibility in a large sample of humans. It ensures the translational impact of our work while characterizing how humans differ in the energetic demands of cognitive flexibility. Finally, Aim 3 will determine if manipulating brain energy is sufficient to alter cognitive flexibility and related neural computations. It combines brief periods of fasting with targeted dietary supplementation in both species. Identifying the energetic costs and neural computations in cognitive flexibility will deliver insights that could protect flexibility in humans operating in energy-constrained environments. These insights could also pave the way towards next-generation, brain-inspired artificial intelligence that would be capable of operating flexibly within resource-limited environments.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Feb 06, 2025
- Source ID
- FA95502410305
Entities
People
- Becket Ebitz
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- United States Air Force
- Université de Montréal